Will Ohio State Record-Breaker Bruce Thornton Be the Last of His Kind?

Indiana and Ohio State’s showdown Saturday has the makings of a seismic NCAA men’s tournament bubble clash, but there will also be a slice of individual history on the line.

Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton is 11 points away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in the history of his program. That may not mean much outside of Columbus, but it is peculiar for three reasons—a) the fact that Thornton played all four years of his career at Ohio State, b) the fact that Thornton played only four years, and c) the fact that the record—held by guard Dennis Hopson, an All-American in 1987—has stood for around four decades.

All this is to say that Thornton may be one of the last of a dying breed: a four-year player at a big-name program who, through a combination of luck and skill, passes up NBA and transfer-portal riches to earn the title of a program’s all-time leading scorer.

How rare is Thornton’s achievement in modern times? Let’s unpack the question.

Here, in tabular form, we’ll list the 25 winningest programs in history (via College Basketball Reference), their all-time leading scorers, the most recent player to crack the top 10 on each school’s all-time list, and whether they were helped by extenuating circumstances (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) that provided an extra year of eligibility to boost their stats.

TEAM	ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER	MOST RECENT PLAYER TO REACH TOP 10	NOTES (IF APPLICABLE)
Kansas	Danny Manning (1985 to `88)	Frank Mason (2014 to `17)
Kentucky	Dan Issel (1968 to `70)	Keith Bogans (2000 to `03)
North Carolina	Tyler Hansbrough (2006 to `09)	RJ Davis (2021 to `25)	Played five full seasons due to COVID-19 pandemic
Duke	J.J. Redick (2003 to `06)	Kyle Singler (2008 to `11)
Syracuse	Lawrence Moten (1992 to `95)	Gerry McNamara (2003 to `06)
UCLA	Don MacLean (1989 to `92)	Jaime Jaquez (2020 to `23)
St. John’s	Chris Mullin (1982 to `85)	Shamorie Ponds (2017 to `19)
Temple	Mark Macon (1988 to `91)	Quinton Rose (2017 to `20)
Purdue	Zach Edey (2021 to `24)	Braden Smith (2023 to `26)
Notre Dame	Austin Carr (1969 to `71)	Luke Harangody (2007 to `10)
BYU	Tyler Haws (2010 to `15)	Yoeli Childs (2017 to `20) and TJ Haws (2017 to `20)
Arizona	Sean Elliott (1986 to `89)	Hassan Adams (2003 to `06)
Indiana	Calbert Cheaney (1990 to `93)	Trayce Jackson-Davis (2020 to `23)
Louisville	Darrell Griffith (1977 to `80)	Russ Smith (2011 to `14)
Illinois	Deon Thomas (1991 to `94)	Trent Frazier (2018 to `22)	Played five full seasons due to COVID-19 pandemic
Cincinnati	Oscar Robertson (1958 to `60)	Jarron Cumberland (2017 to `20)
Texas	Terrence Rencher (1992 to `95)	Andrew Jones (2017 to `22)	Played in parts of six seasons due to leukemia
Villanova	Eric Dixon (2021 to `25)	Eric Dixon (2021 to `25)	Played five full seasons due to COVID-19 pandemic
Western Kentucky	Courtney Lee (2005 to `08) and Jim McDaniels (1969 to `71)	Taveion Hollingsworth (2018 to `21)
Utah	Keith Van Horn (1994 to `97)	Branden Carlson (2020 to `24)	Played five full seasons due to COVID-19 pandemic
Ohio State	Dennis Hopson (1984 to `87)	Bruce Thornton (2023 to `26)
Washington	Chris Welp (1984 to `87)	Noah Dickerson (2016 to `19)
West Virginia	Jerry West (1958 to `60)	Jevon Carter (2015 to `18)
Michigan State	Shawn Respert (1991 to `95)	Cassius Winston (2017 to `20)
Penn	AJ Brodeur (2017 to `20)	Jordan Dingle (2020 to `23)	2021 season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic; played 2024 season at St. John’s

This table is a revealing one, and not just for its nostalgic value. A close reading reveals that there are only five players who have met the following four criteria: a) a career that took place entirely within the 2020s, b) a career that lasted only four seasons, c) a career spent entirely with one school, and d) a career that ended with the player in the top 10 of his school’s scoring list.

These players are: Edey, Jackson-Davis, Jaquez, Braden Smith and Thornton. Of that group, the only players to play their entire careers after the 2021 legalization of NIL earnings are Braden Smith and Thornton. Braden, far better known for his passing, is currently No. 10 on the Boilermakers’ scoring list. Thornton is about to become No. 1 on the Buckeyes’.

Thornton scored just three points in 24 minutes in his Ohio State debut—a 91–53 victory over Robert Morris back in Nov. 2022. However, his scoring gradually ticked upward, and he finished his freshman year a 10.6-point-per-game scorer. He averaged 15.7 in 2024, 17.7 in 2025, and 19.9 in 2026. His advanced metrics have similarly improved—he’s doubled his win shares per 40 minutes since his freshman season, and his 6.3 win shares lead the Big Ten.

Contrast this approach with Hopson’s—the Buckeye great Thornton is about to pass averaged five points per game his freshman year, only to level up and lead the Big Ten with 29 per game in `87. There’s more than one way to become a scoring champ.

“The biggest thing for me is a guy that was committed and dedicated to the Ohio State University for four years,” Hopson told Jack Berney of Spectrum News Tuesday. “With the way basketball and sports are now, kids don’t stay for four years. For a guy that’s never been to an NCAA tournament to stick it out and show his loyalty, I give him all the praise in the world.”

It’s tempting to view a statement like that cynically—the Buckeyes changed coaches smack in the middle of Thornton’s tenure, making a player exodus understandable.

That, however, makes Thornton a bit of a survivor. Everything Ohio State and the college basketball world have thrown at him have, for whatever reason, bounced off him. He’ll likely be rewarded with a trip to NCAA tournament, a hallowed Buckeye record, and membership in the last generation of college hoopers to aim directly at the “career” section of the school record book. He hasn’t missed.

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